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China Delivers Crude Supertanker To Iran
The US takes... and China makes. With the Western world doing all it can to cripple the Iranian regime with embargo after embargo, desperate to provoke the country into an offensive move that would be promptly retaliated as a move of "liberation", Iran, which in a few short months has achieved just what all the Western central banks have been desperate to do and see its currency collapse to record lows, continues to find eager allies in the unlikeliest of places. Namely China, which today delivered the first of 12 crudesupertankers to Iran " giving Tehran extra capacity to transport its oil to Asia as it struggles against Western sanctions, but it is unclear if the ship has the permits necessary to call at global ports." What is most amusing is the glaring override of the western isolation of Iran by China, which together with India and Russia, have now become critical trading and strategic partners of Iran, a consideration which any offensive moves by Israel or the US will most likely need to factor in.
This is where the Iranian tanker fleet was, and where it will be courtesy of China:
From Reuters:
Asian countries including China, India and South Korea are among Iran's biggest oil customers, but, to get around a European Union ban on shipping insurance imposed since July 1, they must use the fleet of the National Iranian Tanker Co. (NITC) to bring the crude home.
Shipments, however, have become unpredictable as NITC's limited shipping capacity is overstretched, and industry sources said the arrival of the 318,000 deadweight tonne "Panda" in the Gulf in early October may help ease the strain.
The very large crude carrier (VLCC) left Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding on Sept. 18. It was initially due to sail to Iran in May, but the sanctions delayed its delivery. A second vessel, the Souvenir, is conducting sea trials in China, but it is unclear when it would begin commercial operations.
"The first of Iran's VLCCs is on its way to Iran. It is unclear how the tanker is being insured in light of the Western sanctions, but I'm sure Iran has found a way," said a Singapore-based oil shipping executive who declined to be named as he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Western insurers provide indemnity for the majority of the world's tanker fleet. Western sanctions to pressure Tehran to halt its disputed nuclear programme have cut its crude exports by nearly half to less than one million barrels a day.
Europe is confused: what is the point of the embargo if everyone is skirting it, and why does nobody fear the "developed west" anymore?
Under a $1.2 billion contract, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd, a unit of China CSSC Holdings Ltd, and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd plan to deliver 12 supertankers by the end of 2013 to NITC, which would boost the capacity of its fleet by nearly 40 percent to around 86 million barrels.
Seven more VLCCs are scheduled for delivery by the end of this year, with the remaining four being built in 2013, giving Iran greater flexibility to store and transport its oil.
Earlier this week the U.S. government officially linked Iran's state oil company to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which would enable Washington to apply new sanctions on foreign banks dealing with the company.
The U.S. Treasury, however, said there was not enough information to conclude that NITC was linked to the revolutionary guards, which industry sources said boded well for the shipping firm, for now.
"NITC will carry on trading and it seems the U.S. government obviously does not want to kill all trade in oil as otherwise, why was NITC not targeted?," said a European industry source. "The big issue will be to what extent will there be sufficient demand from China and India to keep them in the money."
As to who is doing the actual trading of Iran oil, we now know that too: it is Vitol, the world's largest oil trader.
Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, is buying and selling Iranian fuel oil, undermining Western efforts to choke the flow of petrodollars to Tehran and put pressure on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.
Vitol last month bought 2 million barrels of fuel oil, used for power generation, from Iran and offered it to Chinese traders, Reuters established in interviews with 10 oil trading, industry and shipping sources in Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East.
The Swiss-based firm issued a statement saying Vitol Group is in compliance with all international laws on trade with Iran.
"A Bahraini subsidiary company purchased a spot cargo of fuel oil from a non Iranian counterparty in July 2012. The fuel oil delivered under contract was of Iranian origin. Vitol Group companies no longer purchase any product of Iranian origin," Vitol said, without elaborating.
Vitol is not obliged to comply with a ban imposed in July by the European Union on trading oil with Iran because Switzerland decided not to match EU and U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
The company earlier in the year stopped trading Iranian crude oil from its main European offices before the July 1 EU embargo deadline. But the trading sources said it has continued to deal in Iranian fuel oil from the Middle East.
The tale of the cargo of Iranian fuel oil involves tanker tracking systems being switched off, two ship-to-ship transfers, and blending of the oil with fuel from another source to alter the cargo's physical specification.
Privately-held Vitol SA is led by its long-time CEO Ian Taylor, a Briton. Taylor was among leading donors to Britain's ruling Conservative Party named in March by the Prime Minister's office as having dined with David Cameron at his private apartment in Downing Street amid the fall-out from a "cash for access" party funding scandal. Britain is a vociferous critic of Tehran's nuclear program and a leading advocate of the EU sanctions.
In short: pretty much nobody (at least not anyone who is solvent and does not rely on US wealth redistribution) cares what Uncle Sam has to say any more whenever money and geopolitcs are concerned. Goodbye Globocop: every reserve status ends some day.
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Can you spare a cup of sugar?
Put this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2012-09-27/will-israel-blow-somethi...
together with this:
China Delivers Crude Supertanker To Iran
and now you have a story!!
The spice must flow
speaking of flow, what do you make of those Artic Ice bergs in the Indian Ocean??????? Imagine floating all that way and no ships hitting them.
WOW
"Artic [sic] Ice bergs [sic] in the Indian Ocean"
Care to cite a source on this?
Source Debkafile,very reliable.
Source Debkafile,very reliable.
Source Debkafile,very reliable.
Source Debkafile,very reliable.
Got an URL?
To add to the spice of the story, the Chinese have their first Aircraft carrier in the South China Sea and a Mega tanker for Iranian delivery.
Many guys will be gunning for China's floating assets!
Looks like China walks the streets of Dodge like ole Wyatt Earp; every gunslinger in town on his heals!
That's essentially what a China-Japan war looks like. Sinking tankers.
We're talking about consumption rates of millions of barrels/day and all or most of it imported.
After a week of shutting down imports, the war ends. Well, it ends for Japan. China has nuclear weapons and will wipe out Tokyo with a missile that does not require oil for fuel.
Of course, Japan will have invoked the Japan-US mutual defense treaty by then (and let's recall that on request Japan did send $1 billion to support Desert Storm in the early 90s) and Beijing will likely be turned into a crater, too.
All of which will reduce oil consumption globally and its price.
I wouldn't bet on a nuclear Japan/China war. Nobody is that dumb.
From the Iran perspective their projected tanker fleet only represents 30 days capacity @ 2 million BPD export production or 20 days @ 3 million export. It aint much.
I see an Iran pipeline to PAk/India via Afgh one of these days; more likely for its gas potential.
Nobody is the dumb? Have you met a politician lately?
Wait a minute. Are you talking about the same Japanese politicians that nuked their own people and then actually thought they could cover it up?
lol, the biggest lesson of today's world is that THAT breed just makes NO Decisions. They just rake in their percentage and let the Oligarchs run the fiat, financial world.
80% of first world assets are denominated in Fiat....awesome wake up call coming...
Those Politicians, at least the less crazy ones, who are not neo-cons, know they run bankrupt nations who can't afford more wars anymore. They all talk reluctantly of fiscal cliffs and pain and sacrifice to come for their 99% fold who elect them.
You can be a oligarchy shill politician today, make NO decisions, take your cut and stay put.
Like the current incumbent would so like to do in DC!
When it comes to nuking their own fold, the 99%, its no big deal; its called a "national tragedy".
And the sheeple buy it.
Falek,
"Nobody is that dumb."
No Body In China or Japan is that dumb!
There----it reads better om
Um, the Liaoning is more of a training platform than warship: no planes aboard and neither the PLA nor US navies expect to see it capable of any combat patrol for another five years.
An second hand aircraft carier but no planes that can take off from it. No experience with aircraft cariers. The US has what, 11 or 12 carier groups and amphibious assualt groups? Good luck China.
This article is totally retarded.
Thanks for your opinion Chief......check with the secretary on the way out and she'll comp your parking.
US policy towards Iran is retarded and most of the world knows it.
actually it is just good theater. We have our new boogeyman in Iran. Always need a good enemy to make sure the militarists get that juicy funding because if the people aren't scared they should be.
Then you have the boogeyman to be Red China, who buy a large amount of their oil from Iran and have for years. Anyone think they can just go replace that supply from somewhere else? Aint going to and can't happen.
Everyone knows this. China will buy Iranian oil. period end of story. Our bureaucrats simply use this reality as a scare tactic. Scared people are just so much more agreeable when said bureaucrats want to fuck said people. Sometimes they even beg for more.
Our foreign policy is totally retarded.
There fixed it for you.
It is retarded only if one assumes it is designed to work to benefit the common folk, We the People. If one looks at it as a method for TPTB to increase their power, one might not regard it as totally retarded.
Drawing lines in the sand.
Okay. I double, triple, quintuple, gazillion, bazillion, dare you to cross that one!
Quickly running out of beach to draw lines on.
No nation gives one rats ass anymore! Pound sand?
Okay, heres your hammer!
So is posting "this is totally retarded" in every thread. Ask the guy who's holding the gun to your head and forcing you to read ZH to kindly let you browse to another site.
disabledvet, I have to call you out here. What is "retarded" about the article?
disabledvet, still waiting for some reasoned discourse. Right now only you look retarded.
It appears his brain is the disabled part.
I wouldn't call it "retarded" as such but as always the slant is that the US hegemony is somehow worse than any of the alternatives.
What amazes me is how many people from the US are desperately hoping for your own failure - you dismiss Iran's nuclear potential as "a conspiracy" and throw up junk terms like "false flag" with gay abandon while failing to consider what a nuclearised middle-east could mean - proliferation from Egypt to Saudi Arabia and probably Turkey too, in which case you are sitting on the same tinderbox you have now but without any limit on escalation.
None of the states surrounding Iran, with the exception of Assad's Syria want Iran to have a weapon, notice how silent they are on the prospect of an Israeli strike? This isn't a "zionist-american conspiracy", if anything, in this instance, it is the US dragging its feet, how do you feel the house of Saud feels about Iran going nuclear (for example) and there is no state in that region, including Israel, Turkey, Egypt and the UAE states that is blind to the ramifications of Iranian regional ambitions, do you think that the Sunni-dominated mid-east is relaxed about that development?
US foreign policy has oft been extremely counter productive, Iraq in particular has had almost universal negatives, but that does not necessarily mean that any intervention under any circumstance (from sanctions through to airstrikes) is similarly so - it depends what period of time you are expecting to measure success or failure on, ignoring Iran's regional ambition is easy in the short term and then gets progressively more complex as it builds the same sort of capability (with attendant instability and proliferation risk) that Pakistan now has.
The logic in all cases seems to be "everything is a conspiracy, we should not intervene ever and concentrate on domestic foreign policy" which is well and good if you can be energy independent, in that instance you can stop worrying about the middle east, until such time as that materialises you require a degree of military stability, enforced through client states (Saudi Arabia) and your assets in-theatre (of which Israel is one). It's not a pretty picture by any means but what are the immediate alternatives?
Lastly, if you think we're at the end of the USD as global reserve currency, what then, is capable of taking the strain?
It doesn't really matter what you think, or I think, or anyone else thinks. History speaks to what lies ahead. All empires fall. All fiat currencies fail. All reserve currencies are eventually replaced. It's going to happen.
All of which I agree with, I am simply disputing that this is inevitable in the immediate future. As I said, what is the alternative? The Reninbi? The Euro? The Ruble? A new currency pegged to PM's or Oil.
We're clearly eventually heading back to a multipolar world, I just wonder how many of those currently gleefully anticipating the end of US global influence will come to appreciate how Russia and China prefer to 'do business'.
Maybe if US global influence didn't require endless wars and the destruction of the constitution, the magna carta and everything that makes America exceptional, we might be able to gin up some enthusiasm.
Some Americans may still, in fact, prefer justice to security and comfort. There is no way to determine the "when" that these things will happen. Pray tell, what is the "immediate future"? How long does that last? When will the immediate future be over?
It's better to be prepared now, mentally and physically, than to listen to concern trolls and be caught off guard. "Oh I agree that the shit is going to hit the fan fellas, just not tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next. Or the next. So don't worry."
Back at ya!!
I wouldn't call it "retarded" as such but as always the slant is that the US hegemony is somehow worse than any of the alternatives.
The US has killed over a million people in the ME in the last 20 years, including Madeline Albright’s admission of 500,000 dead children. There is a sense that we could do better
throw up junk terms like "false flag" with gay abandon
American history is littered with false flag incidents from the Maine to the Tonkin Gulf.
while failing to consider what a nuclearised middle-east could mean
Israel already has hundreds of nukes. Perhaps some of them are in a very sophisticated configuration i.e. miniaturized. What do you say to de-nuclearizing the entire Middle East?
None of the states surrounding Iran, with the exception of Assad's Syria want Iran to have a weapon, notice how silent they are on the prospect of an Israeli strike?
The US literally owns these nations, therefore they have no opinion.
This isn't a "zionist-american conspiracy", if anything, in this instance, it is the US dragging its feet, how do you feel the house of Saud feels about Iran going nuclear
The House of Saud serves at the pleasure of London and Washington. As for the GCC, how do you think these so-called states were created?
US foreign policy has oft been extremely counter productive
Why is it that only America needs intervention when dealing with other nations?
ignoring Iran's regional ambition is easy in the short term
Iran hasn’t invaded a neighbor in centuries.
…. [Iran] as it builds the same sort of capability (with attendant instability and proliferation risk) that Pakistan now has.
Funny how Pakistan’s nukes never engendered the same angst. Why is that?
The logic in all cases seems to be "everything is a conspiracy, we should not intervene ever and concentrate on domestic foreign policy" which is well and good if you can be energy independent,
By “domestic foreign policy” I’ll assume you mean domestic policy. The US domestic economy is in a shambles. Our infrastructure is getting increasing frayed. The constitution has been obliterated because of enhanced security measures created to protect the “Homeland” of the American Empire. Many Americans are not interested in chasing ghosts overseas and want the USA to be repaired.
As for energy independence, All of America’s energy comes from the western hemisphere from long term allies. Middle East oil is Europe’s and East Asia’s concern
in that instance you can stop worrying about the middle east, until such time as that materialises you require a degree of military stability, enforced through client states (Saudi Arabia) and your assets in-theatre (of which Israel is one). It's not a pretty picture by any means but what are the immediate alternatives?
The assumption is the Middle East cannot possibly survive without American intervention. I think they would disagree. Would there be some bloodshed? Possibly, but that is what we have now
Lastly, if you think we're at the end of the USD as global reserve currency, what then, is capable of taking the strain?
Barter and gold are two possibilities that spring to mind immediately. And these are being used now, so this is not “conspiratorial thinking.”
Poor show, disabledvet, poor show.
The USA is and has always been at war with itself from day 1. We finance the best enemies money can buy. Sokay Vet, shrapnel to the dome is a bitch eh?
"Nuclearized Middle East"? Yep, we've had it at the Dimona facility since the 1960s; Israeli locals nicknamed it the "Nail Factory."
Nuclear Iran? Yep, there was an atom bomb project under the Shah. First thing Khomeiny did was to terminate it, along with contracts for nuclear power plants. France got unhappyand froze the USD 2 bln down payment (or was it 4 bln? I forget); anyhow, it triggered a few bombings in France. But now? Not much chance of a nuclear weapons program there: according to ex-AEC chemical engineer Clinton Bastin:
”Sure, Iran could divert a few tons of 3.5% or a ton of 20% enriched uranium hexaflouride gas for enrichment to 90+%. But what then? No one has ever made a nuclear weapon from gas.”See "Netanyahu Caught Ignoring Top IAEA 'No Iran Bomb' Report at VeteransToday for the full fun.
& so are you.
In other words; fuck the dollar!
We really need to ask for gold or oil in exchange for the next shipment of soybeans to China, not much use for a supertanker around here.
We can't ask for gold while China has a wheelbarrow full of Bennie Bux. It would be ...... embarrassing.
Why? Many of us have a wheelbarrow full of fucking yaun. Hey dipshit, FIAT IS FIAT IS FIAT!!!
The US has a wheelbarrow full of fucking yuan? Where? Fort Knox?
Preppers can be dismissed as almost Amish-quaint, but cutting the Saudis, the U.S., and the U.S. dollar out of big oil deals has got to be noticed.
Let's hope U.S. hubris and ego have a limit that is reached before the market limit.
As with De Beers, one doesn't need to own production to own a market.
"but it is unclear if the ship has the permits necessary to call at global ports."
Paper. TPTB still think paper controls the world.
Here is what is needed: You sell they buy. Pull up the truck Wilbur.
Everything else is distraction and games.
Paperwork is always secondary
CNBC site for the past hour - "US Stocks Seen Flat After Spain Budget" Apparently, down 71 dow points is the new flat.
Yes....and let's just leave it at that.
Flat like Christina Hendrick's chest.
I always +1 for attractive redheads.
Wonder what they paid for the oil with? I call sea-shells.
Benny bucks probably...there are a lot to go around.
If it is USD, that doesn't bode well for Iran in the upcoming "festivities",I have got a bridge to sell them if they are taking that toilet paper for crude.
Sticking with sea-shells and other barbarous relics.
Umm....maybe they traded a billion dollars worth of shipbuilding for the oil?
China's communist economy is ready to collapse, but it still needs more oil. And the US is under attack because countries prefer communist bucks like the ruble, wait, that's not it, the yuan, because it holds so much value.
And oil? Well those prices are in wave 3 down - we should see prices in the mid 80's by next week and lower beyond that.
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/spot-wti-oil-daily-september-26-2012/
Although China may need more oil to create more plastic products to export to nations that don't want their product.
In this world of 2012 if your trading pals asre China, India and Russia then you are not in a hopeless position.
The West never accepted the end of the Shah era when the west had a firm client state in Iran. The west never forgets, they want it back and seem prepared to kill masses of people to get it back. And I grew up on Hitler horror stories of how he was always wanting to take over countries. Makes you wonder what the west is really aiming at. I suspect their real aims are in Russia and China. These two are the ultimate target.
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
"Iran...continues to find eager allies in the unlikeliest of places."
Unlikely my ass. "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." - George Orwell
Just what the tanker world needs -- more capacity!
"The first of Iran's VLCCs is on its way to Iran. It is unclear how the tanker is being insured in light of the Western sanctions, but I'm sure Iran has found a way," said a Singapore-based oil shipping executive..."
I imagine the Chinese could cobble together some underwriters and capital and issue a policy. It's not much of an obstacle.
Given that none are insured for acts of war anyway, just what risks are there to be concerned about?
Vandalism, for one.
Hillary apparently isn't having much success these days. Hope she doesn't have anything to do with nukes.
She's almost out, she isn't serving a second term.
The thinking is she's going to run in 2016...assuming there is anything left to run for.
Oh goodie!
Now we can have our own Mao Zedong.
Bill Clinton was much better at foreign affairs than Hillary ever was. Still is, probably.
True. Hard to say no to slick willy.
Hillary and Obama will sell our nukes to Iran...if they could....economic development..he wants to double exports you know....and the Muslims are PEACE loving peoples...sarc
o_0
The article quote :: "but it is unclear if the ship has the permits necessary to call at global ports" - is nothing more than meaningless journalism...... what asian country gives a rats ass about friggin' permits when they need oil, & the ship has oil..... this is really crappy reporting by Tyler....
.
Perhaps by permits he means certificates of sea worthiness issued by companies such as Germanischer Lloyd without which insurance would not be possible. Is it possible that international certifiers are refusing to provide certification?
Any ship berthing in a port, Asian or otherwise, is expected to produce valid proof of insurance, due to the implicit liability contained in a cargo of flammable, or mega-polluting material, such as crude....one of the slyer aspects of the Zatonian embargo has been to pull coverage on cargoes through pressuring the western insurers who handle 99% of shipping....
please keep us up to date on your progress as a budding analyst and critic.
"one of the slyer aspects of the Zatonian embargo has been to pull coverage on cargoes through pressuring the western insurers who handle 99% of shipping..."
Ultimately this will hurt western insurers as the "east" will develop their own alternatives.
Yes, China has been stealing our advanced insurance technologies. You may now sound the alarm.
This is the biggest embargo fail since Masterblaster tried his Bartertown coup.
Who rules Bartertown? Auntie O'bomb-a rules Bartertown.
If China and Russia stationed sizeable military forces of say 10,0000 to 20.000 soldiers around key installations in Iran including ports, nulear rectors, airfields etc it is highly unlikely that Israel or the USA would attack.
But even Russia and China like to keep Iran scared shitless for their own political and eonomic games and therefore do not do this other than having some presence in and around the gulf.
No one is really interested in peace out of the big boys. They are only interested in a piece of the action.
"continues to find eager allies in the unlikeliest of places"
So what's a likely ally? Finland? Canada? New Zealand?
Cmon ZH, you can do better
I'm so tired of this once-great land having its throat slashed by and for the sick wooden shekel known as Rothschildstan. They've dragged us into the world's gutter, right alongside them.
It's high time we cut them loose and let them drown in the sea of enmity they've so assiduously created for themselves. Let's see how they do on their own as America moves forward without this miserable baggage hung around all our necks.
Payback will be quite a bitch and I for one cannot wait to see it.
if only it were that easy.
I guess some sanctions are created more equal than others, or something like that....
Seeing Western nations accelerate their fall into irrelevance due to what ultimatelly boils down to the lobbying power of a bunch of American jews who still look at Israel as the promised land even though in reality the place is under control of xenophobic & extremist orthodox jews is just too fun for words.
And I say this as a citizen on on such nation.
Popcorn anyone?
How relentless does the erosion of petrodollar hegemony have to be before folks can see the writing on the wall? The opportunity to stem the tide is already long gone, and the threat of yet another mid-eastern imbroglio is just as rapidly losing it's sting...
I'll bet 9 out of 10 Merikans will regard Jim Willie's warning
as over the top, and out to lunch. Sadly, I believe it is not Jimmy who is out to lunch...the slide is likely to be faster than anyone can imagine, once the engine of hyper-inflation has properly begun to turn. The rest of the world has simply given up on the ability of the freaks in DC to turn things around, and are moving on with business.
Reader who find stuff like Celente writes heavy on drama and light on the prosaic might find it edifying to read something like Pedro Juan Gutierrez' Dirty Havana Trilogy...life in Cuba after the withdrawal of the Soviet life support got nasty n brutal in short order....it really doesn't matter what class you used to belong to, once the hammer drops.
I remember going back in the mid 2000's to be amazed at how much things had improved since 95, once the Chinese had decided to come and fill the gap...knowing how quickly things change in this life, I can't help but wonder when the first flotillas of truck tires and other home made life rafts might be setting out from Key West or the Tortugas, in search of greener pastures southbound...even the Mexicans are headin home!
Bingo! Iran chairing OPEC in December of 2011 and opening thier own oil bourse, dropping the USD for oil trade should have been the big clue.
Brit Christopher Tappin was extradited to the US for allegedly selling batteries to Iran, yet fuckers like Ian Taylor can trade Iranian oil with impunity.
£100,000 'dinners' with Cameron says it all.
And that's the game bitchez. China chose their dance partner, bye bye Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps more amusing will be when these quality constructed tankers break up and release their cargo.
IMPENDING SELL OFF ..........
Longs please be careful.
Due to recent central bank intervention and short covering spikes, these daily charts are extremely overextended and significant correction expected very soon:
SPX, DOW, NASDAQ, NZDUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, COPPER, CRUDE, GOLD, SILVER. [USD strength will return]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-24/market-analysis
http://trader618.com
I don't buy it, your not taking in the Geo Political element into the equasion. Were painted in a corner as a Nation right now. I just disagree.
The Dow and S&P will crash before commodities / PM's tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsEHVILPgTk
A big thank you from Argentina.